external DVD Drives

Question

This is probably a stupid question but......can you buy external dvd burners like you can buy external cd burners?

My old computer doesn't have a DVD drive and my kids want to use it to watch some dvds. (it doesnt' have a place to put one in either. just cd's and floppies)

Skybird · Answer

Yes, you can buy an external DVD Burner.  That said, youcan add an internal DVD Burner (replace the present drive)to your system for less cost.  The only advantage to anexternal drive is portability.

faith1964 · Answer

Thank you. You wouldn't have a good idea where to purchase one would you? (we only have a place for a cd drive and we don't want to give that up. Our computer is older and since we didn't order it with a dvd drive,they didn't even put in a empty slot for one later.)

Skybird · Answer

You did not state what model computer you have. A DVD Burner
will do everything your present drive does and more if you
choose to replace your present drive. A DVD Burner will read
and write CDs and DVDs. Which ever drive you choose, a good
place to check is a very good online vendor like www.newegg.com .

faith1964 · Answer

We have a smart step 150D. It runs a little slow but it works for what the kids use it for. It's not our main computer but it still gets plenty of use.   Thank you for the link.

Skybird · Answer

The Smart Step 150D uses an internal IDE optical drive.
It can be replaced with any standard IDE DVD Burner
(for about $25-$30 or so).

There are 4 USB ports, however, I think they are USB 1
ports. That means if you use an external drive, it may
function slower than an internal drive will.

faith1964 · Answer

OOhh glad I got that message when I did. I was going to order an external drive because I thought it would be easier for me to do. But since it's an older computer, even though we've added more memory, it runs a little slow.

So running slower wouldn't be a good thing. Thanks (I like the newegg site)

Storage, Drives & Media

external DVD Drives

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